Stetson, my first guide dog puppy was very stubborn and hated his crate.

Needless to say, Stetson almost ended my guide dog puppy raising career just as it was getting started.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while then you already know that it took Stetson over four weeks to get used to his crate.

In fact, he did not let me sleep more than two hours in a row during those four weeks. 🙁

The good news is he prepared me for parenthood. My three daughters have all been better sleepers then Stetson! 🙂

Dublin during one of his first puppy crate training sessions.

How To Crate Train A Puppy

When it comes to crate training puppies every puppy is different.

Stetson was an extreme case and after those four weeks of pure torture, much to my joy he went totally silent and would sleep in the crate all morning without a peep.

Dublin was on the other end of the spectrum and only had a couple nights of whimpering before he began sleeping through the night.

Over the years I’ve learned many tips and tricks for crate training puppies.

Today we’re going to first share with you the basics of how to crate train a puppy and second, give you our best tips and tricks for those of you who have a stubborn puppy who doesn’t want to adjust to his crate.

QUICK TIP: We prefer the wire crates over the molded plastic crates for several reasons.

Our wire crate is collapsible making it easier to store and travel with.

The wire style crate circulates air better and gives us an option of either leaving it open or covering it with a blanket to make it more like a den.

A pup will rarely soil the crate, however, if he does, try removing the bedding.

A crate should not be too big, but large enough for the puppy to stand stretch and turn around.

When placing the puppy in the crate, use the word “kennel” or “kennel up”.

If he should happen to fall asleep somewhere else, pick him up and place him inside and quietly shut the door.

Do not hesitate to periodically use the crate, even while you are home.

You may feed the puppy in his crate and give him some favorite toys, to keep the experience positive.”

QUICK RECOMMENDATION: From day 1 we start feeding all meals in the crate. We feed all of our pups Wellness Core Puppy Food.

Working on crate training – Puppy Paws!

How To Stop A Puppy From Barking In His Crate At Night

Now that we have the basics of crate training down. Lets talk about the reason why we’re all here…a barking puppy and tips to remedy said barker…

Over the past 10 years we’ve learned quite a bit about crate training from crate training our first puppy, Linus who we rescued from the animal shelter, to working on crate training litters of puppies as foster parents, and finally crate training our very own service dog puppies.

As you might have guessed over those 10 years we’ve learned many crate training tips and tricks.

In Episode 1 of Puppy In Training TV we talked about some of the first things we do when bringing home a puppy.

We also talked a little bit about how to crate train a puppy and Dublin’s first night in his crate.

Lucky for us there weren’t too many nights of Dublin howling in his crate although we did catch a little bit of whining on video – see below.

Take a look at some of the basics in our first episode of Puppy In Training TV:

Crate Training Tips (20 and counting)

Here’s our comprehensive list that will hopefully help you out if you have a stubborn pup who whines, whimpers, barks, yelps, cries, and pretty much any other disturbing noise a pup can make in his crate:

If you get to meet your puppy’s litter mates then bring a plush toy (our new favorite plush toy for puppies is the Snuggle Puppy Toy w/ Heartbeat and Heat Pack) or blanket to rub all over his litter mates. When it comes time to put your pup in his crate leave the toy or blanket in the crate with the scent of his litter mates this may help your pup sleep better at night. This worked well with Dublin.

If your pup wakes up crying in the middle of the night take him straight to his potty spot to relieve himself. As soon as he finishes up his business take him straight back to his crate without any play time or other distractions.

Make sure you feed him at least an hour and a half before bedtime. Also, it’s been suggested to cut off water an hour and a half before bedtime so he won’t have to pee in the middle of the night. We don’t cut off water to our puppy because it’s so important to keep your puppy hydrated.

Play with your puppy for an extended period of time just before bedtime to tire him out.

If you have a wire crate try putting a sheet over it to make him feel more cozy and enclosed. Be careful because I’ve had pups pull and chew on the bed sheet over the crate.

Put your crate near the bed where your puppy can see you and if he starts crying hang your arm down so he can smell your scent. and if that doesn’t work then…

You can try sleeping on the floor next to the crate. This worked with my rescue puppy, Linus.

Feed him his meals in his crate. This will make him more comfortable entering his crate.

Put different textured toys in the crate to keep him company. Be careful. I’ve had pups chew, destroy and swallow plush toys when unsupervised.

If he takes a nap during the day move him from the floor into the crate. Try doing this with the door open and closed.

Try leaving the door open but lying down across the doorway of the crate as if to nap with him, to make him feel more comfortable in the crate, and at the same time make your body block the doorway.

When he’s in the crate and being quiet make sure to give him lots of praise.

Try the heart beat toy. I’ve heard of a toy that simulates the mom’s heartbeat that helps the puppy sleep. We haven’t tried this one yet, but if we have another stubborn pup it will be on our wish list. UPDATE: We used the Snuggle Puppy Toy w/ Heartbeat and Heat Pack with Charlie and his first night in his crate…not a peep!

Do you have a ticking clock lying around the house? You might try that instead of purchasing the Snuggle Puppy. It may help soothe your puppy to sleep.

Try putting a stuffed KONG (we like the KONG Extreme which is better for heavy chewers like our Lab puppies) in the crate with your puppy. We’ve tried peanut butter (make sure the PB is safe for dogs), but you can try adding other treats like bananas, rice, chicken, yogurt to help get your puppy accustomed to being in the crate.

You can also help your puppy get accustomed to the crate (and stop the barking) by giving him his favorite chew, one of our favorites are Bully Sticks. Just make sure you monitor your pup if you give him a chew he can consume like a Bully Stick.

The one that worked for me and Stetson – I was a wreck and I thought Stetson would never get used to his crate. The only way I was able to get him to sleep was to talk to him for 5-10 minutes, telling him what a “good boy” he was when he wasn’t crying (if he did cry I would just keep silent tell he stopped). To try and quiet him down I’d either say “quiet” or “Shhh”.

Try the heated toy. I’ve also heard of a toy that has a thing on the inside that you can warm on the inside and insert in the toy. Makes the puppy feel like he’s with one of his litter mates. Another one we haven’t tried yet, but will be on the top of our wish list if we have a pup who doesn’t sleep. UPDATE:Our Snuggle Puppy Toy w/ Heartbeat also came with heat pads, but we didn’t use it when crate training Charlie.

You’ll have to purchase extra heat pads for the Snuggle Puppy Toy after the first night. Why not just try filling a water bottle up with warm water and putting it inside a thick comfy sock. Hey…you do what you can with the things you have around the house. 🙂

One of our readers had a great suggestion: “We now have a new furbaby, another Golden. He is 8 wks and boy has he reminded us how.much older we are now. We use the same nighttime method with the soothing music and it’s worked like a charm again!” We play soothing music for our older dogs when we leave the house. It never occurred to us to use soothing music to help our pup’s get used to their crate and new environment. Thank you K.Y. for the suggestion.

Crate Training Puppies – We start crating the pups at around 4 weeks

Those are my best tips and trick for getting your puppy to stop barking in the crate.

How about you guys?

Do you have any tips or tricks on how to stop a puppy from barking in his crate?

About Colby

Colby Morita has raised guide and service dog puppies for Guide Dogs of America and Canine Support Teams. He's been writing to the PuppyInTraining.com blog and sharing his puppy training tips from his experiences as a guide dog puppy raiser since 2007.

Comments

Hello, 4 days ago we got Patrick, a 16 week old golden retriever. The kennel allowed the older pups to stay together and have free access to outdoors. We are fortunate that Patrick is learning quickly to be let out to do his business, we use bells on the door, but he has still had a couple of accidents which is understandable. The breeder concentrates on health emotional and physical and behavior. All of her goldens have sweet personalities and eager to please. Everything was going well…..we put him in our den for the first couple of nights with his bed and toys, he barked but settled down……. THEN …….we bought a crate. A 16 month old golden puppy suddenly turned into a barking nightmare at night. We have only had him since Sunday this past week, and started him in the crate 2 nights ago. He is hysterical …….. we bribe him with treats to get him in there. He has his favourite toys and one which has the scent of his mother and sisters. . We use calming spray. He got a little better last night, but his bark was still very high pitched and stressy. The crate is covered. We tell him “quiet” and “SHHH” it works for 5 seconds and he starts again.. My question is how do we crate train a 16 week old puppy who is much more aware than an 8 week old. Thanks Cheryl

I’ve read on several of the informative sites that placing the crate next to your bed is a good choice for a little while until the puppy has adjusted to his/her new home, new family and routines. At bedtime when the crate is within arms distance you can reach over to touch or let the pup smell/lick your hand for comfort. You probably will appreciate some quiet and sleep yourself….unless of course he needs to go outside for a potty break. Sounds like your pup is extremely smart and realizes that he is alone in another room even though the smells are present from his litter mates and Mom. He needs a little re-assurance that you are there when he wakes and needs a little comforting touch or a few gentle words. Give it a try. I’ve read that it’s NOT advisable to put the dog in the bed with you unless you want to start this as a habit. As a little more time passes and he is settling in, you could move the crate back into your preferred room. Hope this helps! We pick up our new puppy the day after Christmas. Wish you good fortune and years of happiness with your new puppy.

we have a 8 week old german shepard. She only barks and howls very loudly when we leave and we don’t think our neighbors appreciate it! Do you have any tips on how to calm her down or not bark as much?? We put her in a play pit before we leave for work since she is kenneled at night.

My husband and I live in Nunavut, Canada. We arrived in August and rescued a husky puppy the first week of September (found her at the local dump). There was a vet clinic in town that spayed her and gave her shots etc., and aged her at about 10 weeks. We started crate training at about 11 weeks, but were using the front porch as her “bedroom” from the first day we got her (she was approx. 8 weeks when we found her). When we got the crate, we set it up and she was good to go.

Initially, she accepted her bed and her crate no problem. We taught her to “go to bed,” and she jumps right in her crate. Since September she was totally fine to sleep alone in the porch: door closed, lights off, in her crate.

Fast forward to the last week of December. She’s now almost 6 months and has started crying instantly and incessantly when we put her to bed in her crate. She scratches and paws at the floor, bangs on the wire crate, and cries loudly non-stop.

Things we’ve tried since this started: -ignore the crying (not a great solution for two working people with a roommate and neighbors, but we have given her hours to quiet and she keeps crying) – taking her for “boring” pee breaks when she’s crying and putting her right back to bed -kong at bedtime -feed meals in her crate -move the crate to the living room -radio in the room -crate door open, porch door closed -porch door open, crate door closed -move the crate to our bedroom -lay beside her while she’s in the crate – let her sleep in our bedroom, no crate (she scratched at the door) -strict bedtime schedule -lights on

The thing that works: she WILL sleep outside in her dog house without a sound. Not an ideal solution since it gets as cold as -50 Celsius, not to mention frequent windstorms and the slight risk of wild animals/stray dogs wandering about. She is a fluffy husky and keeps warm in her house, but we won’t live in the arctic forever and the dog house is only a bandaid solution to a pup that refuses to sleep inside. Someone suggested that maybe she’s too warm, but the front porch stays quite cold and she had no trouble in previous months.

ANY other suggestions welcome!! Or even commiseration from fellow husky owners. We just don’t understand why this aversion to her crate started so suddenly.

Thank you for rescuing your puppy. My Linus was a rescue from the animal shelter and we think he may have had some Husky in him. Unfortunately, it’s tough to tell what may be causing a sudden change in behavior. You might consider bringing in a Certified Professional Dog Trainer to assess your situation. A few questions I would have for you are:

1. Has anything changed in your routines or your puppy’s routines recently? Routine changes sometimes cause behavior changes. We recently had twins and around the same time our Golden started chewing shoes and other items around the house. 2. How much exercise is your puppy getting every day? – lack of exercise could cause behavior problems. I see this sometimes when I have a few busy days without getting my puppies 3x a day walk. 3. How much time does your puppy spend in the crate every day? – too much time in the crate could cause some crating problems. We try not to crate our pups for more than a few hours during the day if at all. We’ve seen some puppy’s display behavior problems when spending long periods of time in the crate during the day.

Those are a few off the top of my head that could cause some behavior changes.

We just got an 8 week old shorkie (shih tzu/ yorkie mix). We are crate training. She does not cry in the middle of the night, to ask to go out, but does pee (and has pooped) in the crate. I thought maybe the crate was too big (although it’s pretty small), but it’s not like she’s going in one corner, and sleeping in another. I think she has just laid in it. We have removed any blankets, that would absorb any mess. Should I be concerned, or try another potty training method??

Congratulations on your new puppy! One thing that you might try is setting your alarm a few times during the night so you can get your puppy outside to potty before she has an accident. We’ve had friends set their alarms every hour to make sure there were zero accidents. Over time they had the alarm go off fewer times per night until the puppy would get through the night without an accident. Hopefully this helps. Good luck with your puppy!

I have a 16 month yorkie that has been create trained but every ones in a while he poops and pees in the create during the night. He is trained to go on pee pads due to cold wheather but in warm wheather he goes outside. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening. His eating schedule has not chaged

Something you might try is start keeping a potty schedule. Take a look at this post when you have a moment: https://puppyintraining.com/my-puppy-pees-a-lot-is-it-normal-a-puppy-potty-schedule/. Try to track when he eats, drinks, sleeps, poops, and pees. If you do this for a while you might see a pattern on the days he has accidents. Also, try to stick with the same routine every day when feeding your puppy. Hopefully staying with a routine and tracking your puppy will help you figure out why he’s having accidents at night. One last thing, there’s also a chance he may not be feeling well so you may want to take him to see your vet for a health check.